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Sunday, July 25, 2010

Diabetes health plan is offered by UnitedHealthcare. I can't believe there's such a company that will offer a health plan for the diabetics who take care of their condition. For one thing, my experience is that they do not cover pre-existing conditions. So if you're working and your employer hired UnitedHealthcare to administer their health plans, it won't do any harm to see if you can be covered as well.

But surprise, now they added incentives for preventive care. I am thinking it is because it is covered by Medicare now. It really is about money, isn't it? It could be that it won't cost them that much to add the incentives or I could be wrong which is what I hope because prevention is really dear to my heart.

Here's how the Diabetes Health Plan will work. They will reward any pre-diabetic and diabetic who follow the steps that are medically proven in managing their condition. This includes preventive screenings, routine exams and regular monitoring of the blood sugar. The use of wellness coaching is even included. This will certainly help know how to prevent diabetes and their complications.

What are the benefits of this? Well, prescription drugs that are related to diabetes as well as supplies could be had at no charge. There will also be lower co-payments for visits to the doctor that are related to the condition. The estimated savings for this is up to $500 a year.

These incentives will empower those concerned to take charge of their condition and their overall health thus helping them prevent the diabetic complications. This will also lower the cost for the employers in providing health coverage for their work force. So you see it is a win-win situation.

This will be a good thing and hopefully turn around the report from the Center
for Disease Control and Prevention that shows two-thirds of the diabetics do not follow the advice of their doctors regarding the management of their condition. They explained the reason for this non-compliance and I am glad they did because I do not want anyone just to blame the diabetics.

They say that the high cost of supplies, doctors' visits and drugs plays a role in the diabetics not following the guidelines. Lack of knowledge regarding diabetes and the complications also prevents the diabetics and the pre-diabetics in not following the guidelines.

So hopefully, now that they are lowering the cost and providing training and information along with wellness coaching, the diabetics and pre-diabetics will be more prone to follow the recommendations regarding diabetes management. And this will work out with the right diabetes health plan.